Means for poising the passageway member in an articulated car unit



F. M6 F. BRINCKERHOFF 1, 13,166

May 14, 1929.

MEANS FOR POISING THE PASSAGEWAY MEMBER IN AN ARTICULATED CAR UNIT FiledMarch 30,

1928 5 Sheets-Sheet .1. J IVENTOR May 1929- F. M F. BRINCKERHOFF 1,713,

MEANS FOR FOISING "THE PAS'SAGEWAY MEMBER IN AN ARTICULATED CAR UNITFiied March so, 1928 5 Sheets-Sheet '2 X XXXKX YOZOYOZIY )(XX X X m ,1nun", u 1% x Xx hr x x xx xxx vx nix Jada/i1 6- May 14, 1929.

F. M F. BRINCKERHOFF MEANS FOR POISING THE PASSAGEWAY MEMBER IN ANARTICULATED CAR UNIT Filed March 30, 1-928 5 Sheets-Sheet 6 v May 14,1929. F. MC F. BRINCKERHOFF 1,713,

MBAN$ FOR POISING THE PASSAGEWAY MEMBER IN AN ARTICULATED CAR UNIT FiledMarch so, 1928 5 Sheets-Sheet 4 g a [s a s a C q v 5 '7 15 g 16 /c v May1929- F. Me F. BRINCKERHOFF ,7 3,166

mszms FOR PYOISING THE PASSAGEJWAY MEMBER IN AN mncummn cm {mm 7 5Sheets-Sheet 5 Filed March 30, 1928 VINVIENTOR jwaw Patented May 14,1929.-

UNITED STATES PATEN T OFFICE.

FRANCIS McF. BRINCKERHOFF, or SUFFEBN, NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR TO rnnssnnSTEEL. CAR COMPANY, OF PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA, A CORPORATION OF NEWJERSEY.

- MEANS FOR POISING THE PASSAGEWAY MEMBER IN AN .ARTICULATED CAR- UNIT.

Application filed March 30, 19223. serial-No. 265,878.

An object of my invention is to provide the passageway member of anarticulated unit with means for returning said member to anormalposition after displacement.

Another object of my invention is to pro-' vide the resilient means formaintaining the weather-proofing means in contact with the passagewaymember of an articulated car with additional resilient means forreturning the passageway member to a normal position after displacement.

Another object of my invention is to provide the passageway member of anarticulated car unit with resilient means attached to the adjacent sideof-the adjacent car body and adapted to resist any displacement of thepassageway member at'the side towards which it is displaced and toreturn said member to anormal position. I j

Referring to the drawings Fig. 1 is a sectional plan view of anarticulated car unit showing the relation of the passageway member tothe adjacent car bodies and the method of mountingv on the car bodiesthe means for poising the passageway member between the ends of theadjacent car bodies; Fig. 2 is a section taken, along the lines 2 2 ofFig. l and shows the means for poising the passageway member betweenends of the adjacent car bodies; Fig. 3 is a'view showing an enlargedportion of the passageway member and the position assumed by thepassageway poising means when the passageway member is displaced from anormal position; Fig. 4 is a view taken along the lines 2-2 of Fig. 1and shows a modification of my invention with the additional 'poisingmeans combined with the upper weatherproofing retaining means; Fig. 5 isa view taken along the lines 5'-5 of Fig. 4 and shows the method ofattaching the passageway poising means to the adjacent car bodies; Fig.6 is a view taken along the lines 22 of Fig. 1 and shows the action ofthe passageway poising members when the passageway is displaced from anormal position. l

Referring now in detail to the drawings where like reference charactersrefer to like parts, reference character 1 indicates an articulated carunit comprising bodies 2 and 3 supported on a common truck (not shown).A passageway member 4 is pivotally su ported on a bearing 5 contained onthesald proofing means. Encircling the truck and is poised between andextends .mto the ends of the bodies 2 and 3'. Inlthe present embodimentof the invention 1 the l passageway member is in theformof a hollowcylinder having openings at the sides adjacent to the car bodies.v Ateach side of the passageway openings in the car bodies and in contactwith the passageway member are weatherrproofing.means 6 whichare held inmjember and havinglimited movement in two directions, these auxiliarymembers comprising portions 8 fastened to the car bod and havingopenings 9 in which the shafts 10 of the movable members can move as thepassageway m'ember tilts with the movement of the car body. These shaftportions 10 have a stop 11 at one end which engages the portionSfastened to the carbody and at the other end have a head 12 which bearsagainst the w'eathenproofing means. It is 1 to be understood, however,that the head 12 maybe made to bear directly against the passagewaymember if desired, by re moving the weather pr'oofing members .orsubstituting a different type of weathershaft porti-on lObetween thehead -;12 and the member 8 isa compressionspring 13 which tends to keepthe head 12 extended at all times.

While I have described only one ofthe mem-' bers 7, by referring toFigs. 1 and 2, it will be apparent that these members 7 are at each sideof the passageway openings in each of the adjacent car bodies. 2

By referring to Fig. 2 of the drawings it will'be noted that with thetwo adjacent car bodies of the articulated car unit in the samehorizontal plane, the passageway member is poised between the ends ofthe two adjacent car bodies and each of the members 7 is extended to itsfullest extent and bears against the weather-proofing member.

13 of the member 7 is initially compressed The spring between the head12 and the portion 8 be: I

fore assembling with the passageway member so that any movement of thatmember will be resisted by the compressing action caused by the movementof the passageway member against the spring 13.

Then the passageway member moves away from the members 7 at one side ofthe car body, the head 11 of the shaft portion bears against the portion8 and prevents the outward movement of the head 12 at the other end ofthe shaft 10. Thus it will be readily seen that these members 7 exert apressure on the passageway member only when that member is moved intheir direction and when the passageway member is normal to both carbodies these members 7 merely have contact with the weather-proofingmeans as shown by Fig. 2. In this manner the passageway member, beingpivotally supported at its lower end by the aforementioned base 5, ispoised between the adjacent ends of two car bodies and will move inunison with the bodies when both of the bodies are moving in the samedirection. \Vhen, however, during the operation of the car unit, one ofthe car bodies tilt-s to one side or the passageway member sways to oneside, the passageway member moves away from the members 7 on one sideand will compress the members 7 at the side towards which it is tilting.Instead of having the passageway member poised as before describedfwewill nowhave a greater pressure against one side of the passagewaymember than against the other side and the passageway member willimmediately move to again equalize the pressure on all sides and willassume a normal position as desired.

A modification of my invention is shown in Figs. 4: and 6. Here theauxiliary members 7 are combined with the upper member of theweather-proofing operating means to form an efficient compact unit. Thetwo spring retaining means are combined in a member 14, in the center ofwhich is an opening or guide portion 15 and a, stop portion 16 for themovable member 17 at tached to the head 18 which assists in poising thepassageway member. The head portion 18 has an annular flange whichassists the member 14; in holding the inner spring 19 under compressionat all times and builds up resistance to the movement of the pas sagewaymember by compressing the spring 19 when the passageway member moves inthat direction. The outer portion of the member 14 has openings as shownby the Fig. 5 through which machine screws or other means may beinserted to permanently secure the member 14 to the car body. Containedon the member 14 within the openmgs for the machine screws and aroundthe stop portion 16 is an annular depression 21 which serves to retainthe spring 19 and one end of the weather-proofing operating spring 22.The other end of the spring 22 is seated in an annular flange 23 of themember 24 which is held in place against the weather proofing members bymeans of-lugs 25 on the member 24 which extend into openings 26 and areheld there by the compressive force of the spring 22. The member 2 1 hasan opening 27 through which the head 18 of the passageway poising memberengages the weather-proofing member to control the movement of thepassageway member.

As shown by Fig. 41 when the passageway member is in a position normal.to the floor of the two adjacent car bodies the head 18 at each side ofthe passageway member is in contact-with the weatl'ier-proofing meansand holds the passageway member poised between the car bodies. Thesprings 22 and the springs at the lower end of the weatherproofingmembers have the same action as they have always had, and the auxiliarypoising member working within the springs 22 have the same action whenthe passageway member is tilted as heretofore described in the preferredform of my invention.

Having thus described the invention what I claim as new and desire tosecure by Letters Patent is:

1. In an articulated'car unit, the adjacent ends of two adjacent bodiessupported on a common truck, a passageway member poised between saidbodies and spring actuated means contacting with the side of saidpassageway member for maintaining said passageway member in equilibriumwith respect to said bodies.

2. In an articulated car unit, the adjacent ends of two adjacent bodiessupported on a common truck, a passageway member between said bodies andresilient means for 1 maintaining said passageway member in equilibriumwith respect to said bodies, said means operable to exert a correctiveefiort during unstable equilibrium only.

3. In an articulated car unit, the adjacent ends of two adjacent bodiessupported on a common truck, a passageway member between said bodies,weather-proofing means for said member, said passageway member andweather-proofing means held in an operative position by resilinet meanson said bodies, said resilient means operable to exert a positivecentering eliort when said passageway member is inclined away from anormal position with respect to said bodies.

1. In an articulated car unit, adjacent ends of two adjacent bodiessupported on a com mon truck, a passageway member between said ends,weather-proofing means for said passageway member, said passagewaymemher and weather-proofing means therefor be ing supported therebetweenby spring means near the ends of said member and shorter auxiliarysprings near the upper end of said passageway member.

5. In anarticulated car unit, adjacent ends of two adjacent bodiessupported on a common truck, a passageway member between said bodies,weather-proofing means for said member, resilient means between saidbodies and passageway member for maintaining said passageway member inequilibrium with said bodies, said means comprising upper and lowermembers and shorter additional upper members with said additionalmembers being attached at one end only.

6. In an articulated car unit, adjacent ends of two adjacent bodiessupported. on a common truck, a passageway member between said bodies,opposing spring means tending to maintain said member ina normalposition and auxiliary springs operable to return said member to suchposition after displacement.

7. In an articulated car unit, adjacent ends of two adjacent bodiessupported on a common truck, a passageway member between and extendinginto said bodies, weatherproofing means for said member, resilient meanscontained on said bodies and attached to said weather-proofing means toposition said member and springs attached to said bodies and engagingsaid weather-proofing means, said springs operable to retard movement intheir respective direction only.

8. In an articulated car unit, adjacent ends of two adjacent bodiessupported on a common truck, a passageway member be tween and extendinginto said bodies, weather-proofing means at the sides of said passagewaymember, springs engaging said means and bodies for maintaining saidpassageway member in a normal position with respect to said bodies andsprings attacheijl to said bodies near the top of said means and adaptedto engage said means only when the passageway member is tilted towardsaid last mentioned springs.

9. In an articulated car unit, adjacent ends of two adjacent bodiessupported on a common truck, a passageway member between said bodies,means for maintaining said passageway member in a position normal tosaid bodies, said means comprising opposing springs at the end oppositethe point of support and said springs being limited in movement in onedirection to contact with said passageway member.

10. In an articulated car unit, adjacent ends of two adjacent bodiessupported on a common truck, a passageway member between said bodies,weather-proofing means at the sides of said member, means for maintaininthe weather-proofing means in contact with said passageway member andresilient members at one end of said passageway member to return saidmember to a normal position after displacement. 1

11. In an articulated car unit, means for poising the passageway memberbetween the ends of two adjacent bodies, said means comprising a pivotalsupport at the baseof the passageway member, and resilient means between the passageway member and car bodies at each side of thepassageway open ings in the car bodies, said resilient means operable toexert pressure against the passageway member only during, and'to resistthe tilting of said passageway member.

12. In an articulated car unit, adjacent ends of two adjacent bodiessupported on a common truck, a passageway member poised between saidends, a pivotal support at the base of said passagemiy member,weatherproofing means between said bodies andpassageway member, springsbetween said weather-proofing means and car ends near each end of theweather-proofing means, resilient means contained within theupper ofsaid springs, said resilient means attached to said car bodies andlimited in outward movement to contact with the weather-proofing means.

13. In an articulated car unit, adjacent ends of two adjacent bodiessupported on a common truck, a passageway member poised between andextending into said adjacent ends, weather-proofing means at each sideof the passageway member adjacent the car bodies, meanstor poising thepassageway member between the ends of the two adjacent bodies, saidmeans comprising a pivotal support at the base of the passageway memberand resilient means between the weather-proofing means and car bodies,said resilient means operable to exert pressure against theweather-proofing means only during, and to resist the tilting of saidpassageway member. V

14. In an articulated car unit, adjacent ends of two adjacent bodiessupported on a common truck, a passageway member poised between saidends, a pivotal support at the base of said passageway member, springsbetween said passageway member and car ends near each end of thepassageway member, resilient means contained within each of the upper ofsaid springs, said resilient means attached to said car bodies and.limited to outward movement to contact with the passageway member.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature.

FRANCIS McF. BRINCKERHOFF.

